


All in the Family

by hisboywriter



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:25:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisboywriter/pseuds/hisboywriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy's first Thanksgiving with the Kaplans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All in the Family

**-X-**

Teddy couldn’t help but smile at the bedlam unleashing around him.

 

For all intents and purposes, Thanksgiving dinner had begun okay enough. The dining table was a spectacle, consisting of a cornucopia of homemade delights and silverware that looked to have been polished with extra attention. The air hovering above it was thick with smells that had made Teddy’s stomach grumble in delight and made the back of his head prickle as he recalled the meals he and his mother had once made together.

It was the guests at the table, looping around this fine display, that had become a spectacle in its own right (i.e. the aforementioned bedlam).

“ _Shut up_ , Isaac.”

Teddy was rooted to his spot, trying to will away the feeling that he was in the eye of a storm.

“ _You_  shut up,  _Jacob_!”

“ _Boys_ ,” Mrs. Kaplan said, her voice making even Teddy’s stomach clench up, “this is behavior  _not_  conducive to the purpose of Thanksgiving.”

“It’s  _his_  fault. He shouldn’t have said anything,” Jacob protested, sounding like he wanted to shout but the eye his mother gave him making it come out like a mutter.

Isaac blew a raspberry and asked without warning, “I thought the pilgrims killed the Indians, so is that why we’re thankful?”

“No, Isaac,” Mr. Kaplan said, and Teddy caught the man shooting him a soft smile from across the table. One that said, ‘I’m terribly sorry and aware of how awkward you must be feeling right now’.

Teddy returned it with his own smile and tucked into his shoulders.

“God,” Billy said toward his brothers, gesturing with both arms, “you two are always causing a scene! Teddy’s here! You can’t-”

“It’s  _his_ fault!” Jacob stabbed an unused fork in Isaac’s direction. “He can’t keep his mouth shut.”

“Don’t speak to your brother that way.”

“He’s not a brother. He’s an insect.”

“Jacob!”

“Billy, stop getting in the middle. You’re aggravating the situation.”

“Isaac made me part of this when he started blabbing about me! Besides, Jacob was-”

“I  _told_  you it was his fault,” Jacob repeated. “None of you listen to me.”

In all honesty, it had been Isaac’s fault, though Teddy wouldn’t have said that straight to the poor kid’s face.

They had sat at the table, Teddy feeling a bit like an intruder on this special occasion and he couldn’t stop the ache in his chest knowing his own mother wasn’t there. He was ready, he had told himself, to commit new memories to put alongside the ones of her though. He was prepared to brave through the holiday.

Mrs. Kaplan had said it would be a socially and mentally healthy exercise to share what everyone was grateful for. Mr. Kaplan added to remember that though they had gone through their own troubles, Teddy especially though he didn’t outright say that, there were others who lacked even more.

It might have seemed trite in other circumstances, but Teddy felt a burst of warmth when Mrs. Kaplan began the ritual and went as far to extend how grateful she was that Teddy had become a member of their family. Still, he felt especially heavy at the notion of sharing his gratitude, unsure he’d settle in as well as he hoped.

Then, Jacob went on, the eye-roll evident in his voice as he came up with the first thing he could think of. Health, a nice home, the usual. Clearly he knew what to say to get the dinner over with sooner rather than later.

Teddy had been ready for his turn, which would have come after Isaac’s, but then the little boy had said something that catapulted them into chaos. Isaac was at the age where he pressed for answers, as if ready to boast about how he could understand any complicated topic. He was as hungry for knowing the answer to all the ‘whys’, and was just as insatiable when it came to sharing every bit of knowledge he had equipped in his mind.

With a beam, Isaac had shared a tidbit of said knowledge by saying, “I’m grateful that I don’t have a stinky girlfriend like Jacob!”

Silence crashed down, time grinding to a halt, and, boy, the look on Jacob’s face (the one after his shock) could wilt flowers.

“Girlfriend?” Mr. Kaplan parroted.

Jacob went from every shade of gray to red in the time it took for him to hiss, “You…!”

Teddy had seen Jacob in a sour mood before, a homage to that pre-teen stage, but this was a lesson in full blown hormone-driven fury.

Jacob had sprung out of his seat and retorted back, none too gently at that. Teddy had no clue what had been the impetus for his tantrum. Maybe it was the fact that he really did have a girlfriend and hadn’t wanted anyone to know, or maybe he had one and felt he had to defend her honor in some way. Possibly, he didn’t have one at all, or just a small crush, and Isaac’s grating voice was just able to send him over the edge like any other sensitive topic.

Whatever the reason, the effect was a domino. Billy, who had been quiet and exchanging furtive glances with Teddy whenever he could, burst out of his silence and demanded the runts to stop arguing. Apparently one Kaplan brother’s annoyance was contagious.

Of course, telling Isaac to do the opposite was essentially goading him on.

“You should be grateful I didn’t tell Mom you were getting all close with Teddy in the bathroom this morning since you’re not allowed,” Isaac had shot back, then slapped his hand over his mouth as if that could retract his statement.

Billy blanched. “Isaac!”

And cue all the Kaplan brothers pointing flaws and engaging in the most graphic performance of tattle-telling Teddy had ever seen. Parental interference only fueled the flames, the Kaplan brothers demanding why one side was always taken, or why disregarding family dining practices would uproot the foundation of a sane mind.

“It’s not fair he gets away with stuff just ‘cause he is a wannabe superhero!” Jacob had thrown out.

“He does too get punished,” Isaac snapped. “You’re just jealous ‘cause your girlfriend isn’t as nice as Billy’s boyfriend.”

And, so on and so on.

At first, the twitch of Teddy’s lips had been forced and took a surmountable load of effort to keep it stuck on his face. It was that awkward kind, the one that said he didn’t want make things worse by commenting  but also didn’t want to stare bug-eyed at the chaos. A polite sort-of-smile was better.

He was starting to think Thanksgiving might be a cursed holiday. Kind of like death and taxes, you could always expect a mess to come out of it when families got together over a feast; even the power of Mrs. Kaplan’s voice was susceptible to the might of Thanksgiving, making its effects weaker.

Then, amidst the bickering and attempts to quell the arguing, Teddy found himself really smiling. He thought of his mother and the quiet evenings they spent together on Thanksgiving. There were no siblings, no cousins, not even a distant aunt to come visit. Nonetheless, the spread was always generous, as if his mother expected him to eat for all the family members they didn’t have. Teddy usually did.

Teddy chuckled, unable to detach himself of the memories and how they contrasted to the scene before him now, which felt so  _normal_  even with the scowls and wrinkled foreheads. Before he knew it, he had lost himself in a short-lived laugh.

  
And that had shut everyone right up.

He noticed it too late, feeling his entire body burn with embarrassment as they all studied him, Jacob and Billy like he had fallen into the precipice of insanity, and Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan with concern and curiosity, respectively.

Only Isaac blinked up at Teddy with an enigmatic look, but within those seconds of blinking, he broke into a smile and giggled.

“I’m grateful when Teddy laughs,” Isaac said. He looked up in contemplation. “And I’m grateful he thinks I’m cool. And that he helps me with my homework sometimes. And that he’s tall.”

Teddy softened instantly at those words and saw the other family members glance at Isaac at his sudden proclamation. The youngest member was smiling like he hadn’t been the cause of a commotion just moments ago.

Beside Teddy, he heard Billy groan then sigh as he sunk back into his chair. “I’m sorry,” he said to Teddy. “That was…”

“Great,” Teddy finished, earning him another round of looks. “I mean, not that it’s  _great_ , but…it’s normal. I could, erm, use normal.”

He flicked his eyes down to his plate, deciding it best not to see what reaction that got from the others. He felt a shift at his side and then Billy palming his hand under the table.

Teddy dared to glance up and just about melted at the smile Billy wore.

“Am I cool too?” Billy asked, eyes teasing.

Teddy found himself able to laugh, grateful for the joke. “Yes, you all are in your own way,” he said honestly.

He looked at the family that had accepted him as one of their own. Jacob was sitting back down, glowering at the food before his eyes flicked to Teddy.

“Sorry,” Jacob muttered. “I guess.”

“It’s okay,” Teddy told him. “The fact that you guys don’t mind bickering around me really makes me feel like I’m part of the family to tell the truth.”

That rewarded him with a few smiles, a particularly knowing one from Mrs. Kaplan.

The room was thick with the weight of his words and thankfully she barricaded any more embarrassing comments by saying, “Well, I think we’ve had enough of our fill of family conflict, yes?”

The Kaplan brothers, under her authoritative spell once more, nodded and mumbled their apologies.

“Good,” Mr. Kaplan said, but gave Jacob a look that Teddy thought meant they were going to have a discussion later. Maybe about the mysterious girlfriend Isaac babbled about. “Teddy, would you do us the honor of picking up where we left off?”

Teddy felt the weight from earlier ease off him, just enough to put that feeling of being a foreigner out of his reach. He nodded at her request. Under the privacy of the table, he relied on Billy’s hand to ground him as he gave his thanks, knowing his voice sounded unlike his own when he mentioned his mother.

“And,” he said, finishing, “I’m grateful that I still have a family, one that I can rely on to have Thanksgiving disagreements every year.”

At that, Billy laughed and gave Teddy’s hand such a squeeze that promised him those words rang true.

Teddy never felt like a foreigner in the Kaplan household after that.

**-X-**


End file.
